Notnowcato's Eclipse as Moore plan pays off

Notnowcato beat Authorized in the Eclipse Stakes after a daring manoeuvre by jockey Ryan Moore to go solo up the stands' side of the course paid off to give trainer Sir Michael Stoute his fifth win in the race

Notnowcato's one-and-a-half length success over the Derby winner with George Washington breathing down Authorized's neck in third illustrated once again that racing at the highest level is often decided by narrow margins and Moore, who could be seen investigating the track at length before racing, must be given full marks for his enterprise.

Notnowcato, a 7-1 shot, may still have won had he stuck with the rest of the field but that seems open to doubt and it was noticeable that, once shown the fastest ground, jockeys in the final four races stuck rigidly to the stands' side, so much so in the concluding event that they got in each other's way, allowing Seb Sanders, who stuck to the far rail, to score unhindered on Soft Morning.

Not that his victory could eclipse Moore, who punched home another three winners to make it four in a row on the day for a 2,375-1 four-timer, some way short of Dettori's 25,091-1 seven-timer at Ascot in 1996, but no mean feat on an enthralling day's racing.

Moore had spent three months on the sidelines this season with a broken arm but he has returned in the sort of form that helped make him champion jockey last year, although he endured a wretched Royal Ascot, finishing a close second four times.

Yet yesterday turned out to be a nightmare for Authorized's jockey Frankie Dettori and nearly perfect for him. He won the big mile handicap on Ordnance Row, admitting after the Eclipse that he would also have brought that mount stands' side had he not be surrounded by other horses, and he steered Selinka, one of those just beaten at Ascot, to victory in the fillies' Listed race.

Danehillsundance added to his score in the seven-furlong handicap. The 23-year-old jockey is not flashy and does not forget to engage his brain when riding. In Notnowcato he has found the perfect partner. Dogged and determined, the son of Inchinor gave Moore his first win at Group One level in last year's International at York and edged out Dylan Thomas in the Tattersalls Gold Cup at The Curragh while Moore was on the injured list.

He takes his name from the dogged manservant of Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther films who leaps out on his master to practise his martial arts every time he returns to his flat. While Clouseau may, for the most part, have been able to be rid of Cato by shouting 'Not now!' at him, for Dettori and Authorized, Notnowcato would not go away once he and Moore had snatched the initiative, and the lead, at around the three-furlong pole.

As Authorized, whose tongue lolled out of his mouth as at Epsom, battled on bravely to hold the attentions of George Washington by a head, Notnowcato was never headed again. Moore said: 'We felt that the stands side was quicker. He's a brave, honest horse and has not got the credit he deserves.'

Given the circumstances of this win, there is the possibility that Notnowcato will lose out in the plaudit stakes once again and, looking back to Royal Ascot, he was hammered by Manduro, undoubtedly the best middle-distance horse in Europe at the moment.

Dettori said ruefully: 'My horse thinks he won. I made my decision to follow George Washington and had to stick with it.' And when asked when he had walked the course before racing, he replied with just a terse 'Yes.' If Dettori did not spot what Moore spotted, then neither did Aidan O'Brien and his team. The Irish trainer was responsible for three others in the eight-runner field besides George Washington but none was to follow Moore's move.

Things were even worse for Dettori when he received a three-day ban, his second of the day, for careless riding when interfering with the fourth home Yellowstone. He will begin a 14-day ban for whip abuse on Friday and now will have to sit out most of the Glorious Goodwood meeting and the Friday of Ascot's King George meeting. It never rains but it pours it seems, the Italian must have thought as he trailed in last of four on The Geezer in the all-blue colours of his retainers, Godolphin, in the Esher Stakes.

In the aftermath of the Eclipse, Stoute, never one to stand chatting to the press for long, hung around enough to tell us that he and his jockey discussed tactics as early as Wednesday, when the possibility of coming stands' side was mooted. Stoute intended to walk the track yesterday but, like many present, he was held up in a traffic jam, probably caused by the nearby Hampton Court Flower Show. Not that he needed to worry with his jockey there early enough. As he put it, 'It was a good bit of professionalism from Ryan and he deserves a lot of credit.'